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Mark Zuckerberg Wanted To Sell Facebook Back In 2004

Funny how things work out. This week, Facebook will cement its status as one of the biggest companies of all-time, with its looming record-setting IPO. But Mark Zuckerberg was looking to cash out as early as July 2004, five months after the social network’s launch, in order to fund a file-sharing network dubbed Wirehog.

According to IM conversations recovered by Business Insider, the then-20-year-old wrote of a possible Facebook sale, “Well it just needs to propel Wirehog.” Further logs reveal his discussions at the time with the likes of Google and Friendster.

The logs pretty much confirm reports in David Kirkpatrick’s 2010 book, The Facebook Effect, of Google executives visiting Zuckerberg to hash out a sale. On the contrary, the legs also pretty much refute a lot of plot points from The Social Network.